


The game

by lauramebob



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Brief mentions of Ori and Dori, Gen, Slight Violence, nori's father
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2016-07-17
Packaged: 2018-07-24 15:47:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7514122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lauramebob/pseuds/lauramebob
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When people said Thievery was a game to Nori they honestly weren't far from the truth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The game

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, this is based on a game that adults used to actively encourage us to play when I was a kid. I can't for the life of me remember if it had a proper name (we just called it 'The key game' because more often than not it was what the adults had to hand and they can make a helluva lot of noise) but it occurred to me that is was basically Thievery 101 which led to this little headcanon. See notes at the end for a basic rundown of the game.

Nori fell backwards with the force of the blow before the coins had even finished clinking together, feeling his lip split from where one of the heavy rings caught him. _Mahal damnit_ he'd been so close that time.

"Useless brat." Nar snarled tearing the blindfold from his eyes and shaking the bag of coins in Nori's face.

"It's a simple children's game Nori. It's not. That. Fucking. Hard."

Nar attached the bag back to his belt and replaced the blindfold, "Again." He ordered.

Nori felt a surge of hate towards his Sire as he wiped the blood which was trickling down into his short beard and dragged himself to the edge of the room, the other underlings avoiding his eye as they waited their turn.

His childish logic had made him think it was a good idea at the time; Dori was old enough for an apprenticeship but Nori was still at the awkward inbetween stage of being too old to be treated like a babe and too young to earn any coin and with an extra mouth to feed in the form of baby Ori...

If he had known what he was getting into he never would've tracked Nar down but he had and now it was too late.

He idly wondered what Dori and his Amad were doing right now, how big Ori had gotten. Did they miss him at all? He'd only been gone a couple of weeks (although sometimes it felt more like a couple of years.

Nori didn't even get his hands on the purse this time before the scuffing of his boot against the stone floor gave him away.

 

 

"Gotcha!" Nori cried as his arms wrapped around the soft, pudgy form of his little brother. Little Ori giggled and squealed as he squirmed to get free.

"Again!" Ori cried out in Nori's ear.

"Right Ya are." Nori let his brother go and listened to his small hurried steps. Steps which gradually got closer and closer followed by a slight tug on his belt as little hands took hold of his coin purse. Heavier steps getting closer and closer.

_Oh bollocks_

Nori tensed on instinct as he felt himself hauled up roughly by the arm and blinked as the blindfold was torn from his eyes.

"'Ello Dori. You're home early."

"I trusted you to watch him and I come back to find you teaching him  _sneaking_ and _stealing_!" The older Dwarf shouted.

Nori raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, " It's just a game Dori. Ain't nothin' in it,"

"I know what I saw!" Dori stepped closer so there was no space between them and Nori braced himself for a blow.

"Dori?"

Nori said a silent thank you for little brothers. Both of the older Ri's looked down at their brother who wide eyes were flitting between them as he pulled on the worn, slightly stretched cuff of his jumper.

"Is Nori in trouble for playing with me, did we do something bad?"

Dori visibly deflated a little as he knelt down so he was level with Ori, "No dear one, you didn't do anything bad. But Nori needs to leave now." He threw a pointed look at the middle brother who felt his heart sink down to the pit of his stomach. No matter how many times Dori sent him away it always hurt.

"Right. I'll see ya soon though yeah." He said ruffling Ori's short hair, "We'll 'ave chips next time."

He wondered how long 'soon' would be this time before Dori allowed him to darken the doorway again.

 

 

Nori leaned against the wall, head cocked slightly he took in the site before him. Dwarves of various ages were gathered in a circle as those wearing novice braids took it in turns to be blindfolded and potential apprentices took it in turns to try and successfully relieve them of something on their person without being detected. 

He watched with interest as a small, brown haired dwarfling, his curly hair falling into his large eyes approached Tala. Tala shifted her weight slightly, turning her head in an effort to try and catch the slightest sound.

The room seemed to collectively hold its breath as the boy reached out slowly and gently took hold of small pouch Nori knew to contain an mixture of coins, buttons and scraps of metal, intended to make as much noise as possible. Small fingers worked deftly at the knot before he held the pouch close to his chest and scurried over to the Spymaster without so much as a whisper, the room breaking into cheers and applause as he handed over his prize. Nori hoisted the boy up onto his hip and handed over a small bag of candied fruits and nuts as a reward whilst making a mental note to check if the boy had any hobbit blood somewhere in his family.

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, it's probably pretty obvious but the as mentioned the object of the game was basically to steal something without getting caught.  
> In the version I used to play we would stand in a circle around somebody who would be sat in a chair with a bunch of keys underneath the chair. The person who was 'It' would have to creep around the outside of the entire circle ( the more people involved, the harder it was), through the gap they had left, grab the keys from underneath the chair and get back to their spot in the circle. Whilst this was going on the person in the chair (who was blindfolded) has to listen out for any clues to give away where 'It' was and attempt to catch them by pointing to where they thought they were at any given time. The other people in the circle had to be pretty quite too because any giggling, whispering, gasping, etc could give away where 'It' was. The person in the chair would get bonus points if they could correctly identify who 'It' was.  
> And that is 'The key game' and to this day I hold it responsible for my sometimes hobbit-like (unintentional) sneakiness.


End file.
